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[WIP] "Schley" Style Town Map

I have always tried to make a map like the Ashenport map by Mike Schley (A pro artist/member here). I am still working on figuring out just how powerful the tablet is but so far I like the results.

This town on the water pays homage to Mike and his inspirational maps. In a non-stalker sort-of-way...

It has some spacing issues and I am not sure about the "rock" in the lower left... I used Djekspek's compass tutorial (here) for the rose and I like the outcome of the first try. I may end up drawing new trees later but for now I used the ones I made some time ago found here.

I really love the cozy feel of this town. There's something to be said for the buildings being gently clustered together instead of in an organized street arrangement. It pays more attention to the home instead of to the town itself. I'd live there!

Nice work!

Very nice! Something you might like to try is using a large surface texture scan to give more visual interest to areas that don't have a lot of color detail or ink work. The idea is to use a large reference in a subtle manner, allowing it's natural randomness to show through. For example, In the sea area, maybe you could find or shoot a high-res photo of light reflections cast onto a pool or river bottom and overlay it for an interesting yet unobtrusive effect. Play around with the size of the reference and it's layer properties until it feels right. Make sure to keep the layer opacity fairly low though so that it doesn't become too distracting.

A neat example of this can be seen in older movies where naval battles needed to be shot using miniature boats. At a certain ratio, miniature waves begin to look much like large ocean swells when set against tiny boats. I can't recall the exact size ratio, but there's a sweet spot where the relationship just clicks. This same effect works when creating surface textures for mapping or cgi. Large or small, you can trick the eye into seeing a pattern as natural and real if it's got that randomness and variability inherent in textures pulled from direct observation. This trick also works in the same manner with dirt, grass, you name it. Don't overdo it though, less is more.

Vardah - Small Town Map

Thank you for the positive feedback! I have had so much fun making this map.

Mike! I am so glad you like the map, thank you for the information on the subtle textures. After staring at your maps wondering what kind of "grunge" brushes you use for texture... now things make more sense. I only got so far using the add noise then blur method :-)

- Added/copied some more buildings and things (a well and log wall for the fighters guild).
- Re-did the trees (I like my new tablet!)
- Added "dunes" or hills and some test rocks
- Added some subtle textures to just about everything
- played with the overall levels and hue/saturation
- Added numbers and a small guide to what they are... with the name of the town
- Made the compass smaller

Here is the latest WIP EDIT: and a non-textured version for comparison.

As to writing a "how to"... I am not sure I am ready to take the mantle of "expert" for this style of map but I will try to put some steps together for how I did this map... or maybe even a youtube video if I can figure out how to keep the information clear and short. (the how to will take some time though)

Thanks again for the encouragement!

Last edited by rpgmapmaker; 03-30-2012 at 10:22 PM.
Reason: Added Non-Texture version